Feel free to discuss any topic of general interest, so long as nothing you post here is likely to be interpreted as insulting, and/or inflammatory, nor clearly designed to provoke any individual or group. Please be considerate of others feelings, and they will be considerate of yours.
It's encouraging to see that there are at least a few doctors who actually embrace internet research and participation in discussion boards by their patients:
The rise of the internet has seen medical and research information become much more available to individuals. And boy have people seized the opportunity to access this information in an effort to understand better how to overcome illness and enhance health. Not uncommonly I see patients who know far more about some health matter than I. I like to embrace this, personally, as it usually means that person is likely to progress faster down the path to health than if they hadn’t bothered to or been able to educate themselves. And I have generally have no issue at all (quite the reverse, actually) with a patient educating me about some health matter.
We doctors no longer have a monopoly in health information and advice. Patients now have the potential to learn much from the experiences and wisdom of other patients. I don’t think we doctors should be threatened by this: I think we should embrace it, partly because it can benefit patients, and partly because our patient’s experiences and ideas can benefit we doctors too.
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
Fantastic...maybe there will be a day when many medical doctors realize that we know our bodies the best, and really listen to what we have to say, and work with us on a solution, not just hand us another drug. :)
Linda :)
LC Oct. 2012
MTHFR gene mutation and many more....
Linda wrote:Fantastic...maybe there will be a day when many medical doctors realize that we know our bodies the best, and really listen to what we have to say, and work with us on a solution, not just hand us another drug. :)
That's already happening in Great Britain. Here are a few quotes from another blog by that same doctor:
The General Medical Council (GMC) is the governing body for doctors in the UK (like me). The GMC publishes rules and regulations on how we doctors go about our business. Of course, the real aim of having such guidance is to ensure that individuals get a certain standard of medical care. Perhaps with a patient focus in mind, the GMC has recently published guidance on what individuals can expect from their doctors. You can read the guidance here:
The good news is that the GMC has acknowledged that doctors should answer patient’s questions and concerns properly. And that whether a patient takes up the offer of treatment is up to the patient. Here’s the relevant wording from the GMC guidance:
Doctors must listen to you and respond to your questions and concerns.
Doctors will tell you about treatment options that will work for you or will explain if there is not a treatment available. They may recommend one treatment option, but it is up to you to decide which option you want and you can decide not to have treatment.
I do not want to make trouble between patients and their doctors (there’s already way too much of that going on already, in my opinion). However, I have to say I find some doctor behaviour I’ve had relayed to me is shocking and unacceptable. A big part of the problem, it seems to me, is simply not respecting a patient’s views and wishes. Should this happen to you, and if you’re in the UK, then you are quite within your rights to remind the doctor of their duty of care to you as set down by their governing body.
I don’t know what the situation is in other countries. However, even if treating patients as individuals and honouring them is not enshrined in professional guidelines, I do think it’s the least patients can expect. These common courtesies make for good relationships and good medicine, in my opinion.
That's slightly awesome, IMO, and it will revitalize the medical "industry" if it's done properly. Without it, the future of medicine doesn't look particularly great, because so many doctors seem to be steadily losing credibility due to a widespread attitude problem.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
as we have discussed many times, it is not the doctors that are the problem.
-it is the health system they work under,
-it is the education and training process that they have to follow,
-it is the highly tribal fraternities they have to be members of - comply with the elders or be outcast
-that govts and their decisions about health care are just puppets - being controlled by big pharma
-the system struggles to support patients with multiple, sometimes chronic conditions
-more so the silo'd system struggles to support people having whole of body symptoms.
here in Aus, we cant email our doctors. it can be 4 - 6 working days to get a 15 minute appointment, if you want a longer appointment ie 30 mins, you have to plan 2 weeks ahead.
thats not the doctors fault -
Gabes Ryan
"Anything that contradicts experience and logic should be abandoned"
Dalai Lama
Most of the doctors I have come in contact with are simply not willing to dig deep into a patients issues and have no knowledge of issues outside the realm of 'regular' medical issues (such as colds, flu, arthritis), and yes, part of it is that they have a quota of patients to see each day, and their training is controlled by the pharmacological industry, and situations out of their control.
But, when you work with a patient and you see they are not getting better, or have multiple new issues springing up, they should be willing to dig deeper, and think outside the box. Just as I have, as a teacher of beginning reading. Every student is different in the way they learn skills, and I have to keep trying different methods until I have success.
I agree with what you are saying as part of the problem, but I have read about some doctors like Dr. Fine or Dr. Blaylock, who look at the root of the problem, not just the symptoms, to treat.
If more of our doctors would do that, we would work better together to solve our issues.
Our medical system is all about drugs, and it's hurting us as a society.
Sorry for rambling!
Linda :)
LC Oct. 2012
MTHFR gene mutation and many more....
